Jun 18 Wild Turkey Rare Breed WT-03RB Review

Rare Breed is a blended, barrel proof offering distilled by Wild Turkey. There have been somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 different batches since 1991. I'm not going to go into detail about the various batches because Red White & Bourbon did it already and did it very well. However, you can still find batch WT-03RB in addition to the current 112.8 proof batch. Sometimes you can even find the two side by side on the same shelf!

Wild Turkey only has two grain bills - one for bourbon and the other for rye. The bourbon grain bill is used for WT101, Kentucky Spirit, Rare Breed and the Russel's Reserve line. If you are looking for a more in depth breakdown of WT products by grain bill check out this Bourbonr Blog Post.

Distillery: Austin Nichols Distilling Compay, Lawrenceburg Kentucky

Recipe: 75% Corn/13% Rye/12% barley

Proof: 108.2

Age: A blend of 6, 8, and 12 year

Batch #: WT-03RB

Pour: 1.5 oz neat in a scottish glencairn

Nose: Candy corn, caramel chews, warm apple pie filling, cinnamon and the faintest hint of nutmeg. This smells great and reminds me a lot of other WT bourbon products.

Body: Light to medium

Palate: Caramel, vanilla and lots of rye/baking spices. Some residual sweetness on the back end right up until the finish.

Finish: Cinnamon sticks and some oak linger long after the sip is gone. Drier than the palate but not distracting or out of place.

Rating: 3/5

For the amount of perceived rye spice in the mid palate you would expect a drying finish but that doesn't happen. The finish goes on forever and is welcome. The nose and the finish are the best parts of the WT-03RB batch. Unfortunately I don't have any of the older batches or the most recent release to draw a comparison.

About six months ago I was on the hunt for a bottle of the WT-03RB batch and eventually ended up with a couple of bottles. I cracked a 750ml and was immediately disappointed. At this time I couldn't say if that was due to my inexperienced palate or because the bottle has had a couple of months to breath. However, I am really coming around to this juice. Wild Turkey bourbons have a distinct aroma and flavor profile unlike any other distillery. The similarities between the Rare Breed, 101, and Kentucky Spirit are quite obvious and really make me believe there is in fact, only one bourbon grain bill.

Just about every distillery out there these days has a barrel proof offering. Most, however are in the $50+ price range. Rare Breed can typically be found for around $40 or better making it a solid high proof sipper.